Tag Archives: Tip Tuesday

Happy Taco Tuesday, everyone! A few months ago, I came up with a taco alternative that satisfied my inner burger cravings. I have seen (even at some Tex-Mex restaurants) taco meat lumped on a bun resembling nothing more than a sloppy joe but called a taco burger.

But what if you kept the burger in patty form and simply seasoned the meat (mixing in taco seasoning) before cooking the patty? Topped with cheese and put in the oven for a few minutes for the cheese to melt and stopped with some toppings (shredded lettuce, tomato slices–or pico de gallo, and guacamole), maybe even a special sauce (equal portions of sour cream and salsa mixed together), and you have the following: (You may commence drooling now!)

You have a burger (minus the shredded lettuce–for some reason that freaked him out and the pico because of the onion) that Muffin adored. A taco hedonist’s paradise.

Yes. It really was that delicious.

And he wanted the extra burger (but we were out of the sour cream-salsa sauce and the guac…which he tends to pronounce Whack-a-Mole), but without two of his favorite toppings, he vetoed it.

That is why this burger is being made again, two weeks after it was made the last time, for Taco Tuesday.

4 hamburger buns (I didn’t do this last time but would recommend because of the goopiness of the substances on the insides–toast them.)

Combine the taco seasoning with the ground beef, making sure it is thoroughly integrated. Shape into four equal patties. (At this point, I would chill/freeze the patties so they hold up better in the pan. I didn’t do this last time but will be doing so again.)

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Place patties in the skillet. Cook until “DONE” on one side, then flip and repeat. Place them on a baking pan (preferably one lined with aluminum foil for easy clean up) and top each with a cheese slice. Bake in the preheated oven until the cheese is melted on top of each patty.

Once patties are ready (redolent of taco-style spices and chili), slather the inside of each bottom half of the buns with the salsa-sour cream mixture. Sprinkle shredded lettuce atop that. Nestle the patties on the bed of shredded lettuce. Top with tomato and onion slides or a mounded amount of pico de gallo. Mound 1/4 cup of guacamole on the top bun and top the burger.

Consume with chips and salsa.

What is your favorite taco alternative for Taco Tuesday (with mandatory viewing of The Lego Movie)?

Like this:

My love of 9×13 pans is well-known. But I have a new love: the sheet pan. It is the perfect size for making a package of English muffins’ worth of mini pizzas. It is perfect for the red velvet sheet cake.

Recently, on the Pinteresting half of the Pinteresting Blogosphere, I discovered several interesting things that require that oh-so-versatile unsung hero in the kitchen. Several that will make their way to Meal Plan Monday posts in the months to come.

The first that caught my eye (although it actually came about as a Google search for stir fries for oyster sauce–I accidentally picked up oyster sauce at Aldi thinking it was fish sauce for another recipe that has still not been made) was this sheet pan stir fry. I was really excited when I saw it used Sriracha, as well (another Aldi purchase for a recipe that used a miniscule amount of it). And anything that uses sesame oil HAS to be yummers.

So, after a few meal plan misses, I made it Saturday. And it was totally awesome. I did, however, change some things up (Insert eye roll by family members and longtime readers who know this quirk of mine). If you follow along with the link above, you can see below how my plans changed to create this delicious melange of flavors:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. (Note: If baking egg rolls, make sure they are the ones that bake at 425 so that you can cook the stir fry and the egg rolls at the same time.) Combine the last nine ingredients in a small bowl, whisking them together to break up the lumps of powdery substances.

Line a sheet pan with heavy duty aluminum foil. Toss together the remaining ingredients until well combined. Drizzle with the sauce and toss to incorporate the sauce.

Bake for 18 minutes. Serve over fresh and hot rice with an egg roll (or two if you are feeling particularly decadent) on the side. In the picture above, I drizzled mine with a bit more oyster sauce and a bit more sriracha. Yummers!

And then the gifs. Gif recipe loops on imgur and the like are addictive to the foodie-inclined.

One that has kept my mind occupied before but that I only just worked up the nerve to try was the Apple Pie Bake.

Innocuous name for something you can’t look away from. If you clicked the link, you probably haven’t looked away yet.

I will wait.

A local restaurant (Chimi V’s) serves an apple pie on a sizzling skillet slathered with this sauce to die for and sided by ice cream. This is the only apple-pie-ish recipe that comes close.

But seriously, if you have the sauce recipe for that apple pie, I will not be upset if you feel the need to share. Seriously (which my phone for some reason recognizes as “hey, Siri” and feels the need to turn Siri on. Does anyone else have that problem? No? Just me?).

I wouldn’t mind if you share it with me.

But back to the Apple Pie Bake. This is a recipe I only made one change to. I peeled the apples before chopping them. Cooked apples in their skin makes me cringe.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread the dough chunks evenly in the bottom of a 9×9 square pan. Whisk together milk, cinnamon, eggs and vanilla. Pour it over the cinnamon roll dough. In a skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Add brown sugar and apples and cook until apples are softened. Pour apple mixture over dough and custard mixture. Drizzle both packets of frosting over the mixture.

Place the pan atop a cookie sheet to catch any bubble-over.

Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes until cinnamon roll dough is cooked and top is browned.

Today’s reboot comes courtesy of Kraft Recipes. Well, mostly. If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that it is impossible for me to follow a recipe exactly. I. Must. Modify.

And luckily, this recipe is easily modifiable and adaptable.

What is it, exactly?

Pepperoni Pizza Lasagna.

Let me repeat that lusciousness again. Pepperoni Pizza Lasagna.

Cheesy, saucy, meaty, pasta-y, veggie goodness.

And easily adaptable.

Yes, this is recipe nirvana. (And not the band)

Nirvana (the band) is not exactly the genre of music I hear in my head when making and consuming copious amounts of this recipe. Sinatra, yes. Alternative? No. Think the Olive Garden soundtrack. “When the moon meats your eye, like a big pizza pie…”

And, now back to recipe matters and not mangling-lyrics matters.

The original recipe calls for raw diced bell pepper and onion. That creates two problems in our household. 1) The peppers and onions don’t get completely cooked, and 2) Muffin is not a fan of raw bell pepper and raw onion. And, since he eats so many other healthy things, I have learned not to push my luck.

So, we adapted. We subbed olives for the peppers and onions. I think it would also be fabulous with most pizza toppings. Except maybe pineapple. As much as I love pineapple pizza, the thought of pineapple and lasagna noodles makes me slightly nauseated.

But Italian sausage, browned and added to the sauce and crumbled over the top? Definitely! (Even though we haven’t tried it that way yet.)

Spray a 9×13 dish or foil pan with cooking spray. Spread 1/2-3/4 cup sauce on the bottom. Top with a layer of lasagna noodles, broken to fit, as necessary; 1/3 ricotta mixture; and 1/2 cup of sauce. Repeat layers twice. Top with lasagna noodles, sauce, cheese, and reserved toppings (meat and vegetation). Cover with foil sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake 35 minutes. Uncover and cook 10 minutes more. Remove from oven and cool completely. Cut into serving-sized squares, with a slice of pepperoni centered in the square.

Chill or freeze.

When ready to eat, remove the desired number of squares and reheat in the microwave until heated through.

*Note: I tried eating this 10 minutes post-oven, but the noodles are on the hard side of al dente. For some reason, chilling it overnight after cooked softens the noodles to a more preferable al dente (as in, you can then chew them).

I haven’t found a fruit yet that he won’t eat, copious amounts of, except possibly grapefruit. This is the child who can decimate a pound of strawberries in one sitting and wonder where the rest are.

I’ve been lucky in that regard.

Of course, sometimes he comes up with some strange combinations, such as Sunday’s baby carrot in a stick of celery “hot dog” with ranch dressing “ketchup” at the Christmas lupper table. Or the salad-stuffed breadstick at Olive Garden.

Seriously. Desperately. Tried. I’m still scarred emotionally for life about that one.

Muffin has, if you have not guessed it, been an adventurous eater. But certain “vehicles,” I shall say, have aided that.

And those vehicles are great at encouraging kids (or veggie-resistant adults) to trying new foods.

Vehicle #1: Topping a baked potato. Every so often at work, one of the classes makes available a baked potato bar. It is seriously the best day of the month (I have leftovers for the following Monday’s lunch). This one taught me something. Basically, if you stick it on a potato, it has to be good. Raw broccoli is a case in point. I like many veggies (brussel sprouts included), but the texture of the florets of broccoli made me…blanch. (Okay, I couldn’t resist.) I have managed to convince Muffin to try many foods that foods are good by slapping them on an open potato vehicle.

Vehicle #2: Pizza. Muffin went through a whole phase where he only wanted cheese pizza. Pepperoni magically became “too spicy.” Then, all of a sudden, pepperoni was awesome again, and it reigned on pizza. I doubted the magic and mystique of pizza. And, then, the other day, Muffin saw his dad get a deluxe slice of pizza from Sam’s (with red and green bell peppers and onions). He insisted he had to have a piece of deluxe, as well. And he ate…most of it. The red bell peppers were still a tough sell. But he ate the onion, when previously he would have eaten it only in onion rings from Whataburger. But I’ve always eaten onion, I think, because my mom has always put chopped onion in her pizza sauce.

Vehicle #3: Tacos. How Muffin first had salad (lettuce) and tomato (other than ketchup and salsa). As he has proven, there is not much that Muffin will not put on a taco. Except raw onion. But usually every other taco topping (including green olives) will appear on a Muffin taco.

Vehicle #4: Ranch (or another favored) salad dressing or dip. My parents often do a crudite platter for lunch. Muffin is always very excited to go over to their house for lunch because of this. He has been known to consume cucumber, celery, and carrots without said dip or dressing, but he will consume it in copious amounts with the white seasoned stuff.

Vehicle #5: Salad bars. If you cut up a rainbow of veggies, the odds are high(er) that your child will jump at the chance to create and consume his or her colorful creation. Taking Muffin to a salad bar is always an exercise in patience. If it’s not spicy (or raw onion or bell peppers), he wants to try everything. And everything must be arranged just so.

Vehicle #6: Sandwiches (especially and including burgers): Muffin is much more adventurous on his sandwiches and burgers than I am. He wants to always eat one of those picture-perfect sandwiches and burgers bulging with toppings. So he always has salad (his name for lettuce) on his sandwiches. I rarely if ever have lettuce on sandwiches and burgers.

These are not 100% a guarantee that your child will eat all of the veggies on the planet, but it is better (in my opinion) than those hide-a-way veggie methods that some employ. Yes, you want them to have the nutrition from the veggies. But hiding it does not cause them to eat said veggies later in life.

In fact, by challenging Muffin with “you don’t really want that, do you?” has made him try more veggies and odd foods (mussels) than hiding any of it has. And he is always so proud when he likes it!

Like this:

I’m probably the world’s worst person at following a recipe that I know. Sometimes it works well; sometimes it works less than well.

Sometimes (as is the case of the Mississippi Roast I made yesterday) I misread or forget an ingredient (at 5:30 in the morning when you are racing around trying to gather lunches and stock the slow cooker and get ready for work it happens). Sometimes, I substitute ingredients.

And, sometimes, after a long, hard day at work, I get…lazy. There! I said it. The recipe I am going to share with you today (my adaptation of Wholly Guacamole Enchiladas by Mommy Hates Cooking) is the product of my extreme laziness. Rather than enchiladas, it became more of an enchilada casserole.

It was still yummy, but I don’t have the patience to warm corn tortillas to make them pliable, then fill and roll them, cursing them when they still tear and crack anyway on the best of days. After a day of teaching? It’s not happening.

So, I put a bit of the sauce in the bottom of a 9×13, spread six corn tortillas flat, then put the enchilada filling on top, then six more tortillas followed by sauce and cheese. It turns more into an echisagna at the end, but it is still delicious.

Note: the one thing I will INSIST upon is that you use an enchilada sauce that you like. I used one from my Aldi run and it was too spicy for anyone except me. They still tasted awesome, but Muffin and Josh couldn’t finish theirs. And the sauce was really watery.

But here’s what I did.

Guacamole Enchilada Casserole

(Adapted from Mommy Hates Cooking–See Link Above)

12 corn tortillas

1 large can red enchilada sauce (28 ounces, I think)

2 cups cooked and shredded chicken breast

1 can Rotel (the original says drained…I just realized that)

4 green onions, sliced

1/4 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped (I could still tell there were leaves in mine.)

16 ounces guacamole (I had two 8 ounce packages in what I purchased from Aldi, so I used it all.)

2 cups shredded cheese (I used a mix of sharp and mild cheddars. Monterey Jack would be awesome as well.)

Lightly coat the bottom of a 9×13 Pyrex baking dish with enchilada sauce. Place six tortillas on the bottom of the pan, overlapping slightly as needed. Pour and spread all of the guacamole mixture over the tortillas, smoothing as needed.

Cover with six more corn tortillas, arranged as before, pressing slightly to adhere and smoosh. (Yes, smoosh is a technical term.) Cover with remaining sauce (I love saucy enchis!) and cheese.

Bake until hot and bubbly (about 30 minutes) and cheese is melted. Let sit 10 minutes then cut and serve like lasagna.

Like this:

I’m a believer in following the rules. I think I was a hall monitor in a former life. Personal responsibility is a BIG thing with me. Once I learned how to color within the lines, I tried never coloring outside of them.

For those of you who have read my (nearly countless) posts of how I altered recipes, therefore NOT following the rules, you are (justifiably) howling maniacally.

But my need to bend recipes to my will aside, sometimes there are times you need to BREAK THE RULES!

Even though I haven’t written an updated post (yah, yah) for the Please Don’t Heat Up the Kitchen New Recipe Challenge, I am trying to make sure that I don’t heat up the kitchen this summer of insane heat.

Repeat after me: In. Sane.

So, why would I make a recipe that not only heats up the stove coils for an extended period of time but also runs the oven for close to half an hour (plus pre-heat time)?

Because it is totally worth it.

Because it makes you think you are literally tasting summer.

The fresh and crisp and clean summer, not the insane (see above) summer.

The recipe comes from Debbiedoo’s (I just love that name), the blog that gave Muffin his favorite pork chop dish (Slow Cooker Dr. Pepper Pork Chops). I figured that any recipe from that website would be totally Muffin Approved (and it was)!

What dish, to me, epitomizes summer? Drumroll….Wait for it….

Quick and Easy Chicken Piccata. Lemony. With a crisp note of white wine. And the one ingredient that makes me love chicken piccata: capers! Of course I forgot to add them until after the chicken was in the oven for a bit, but half a jar still went in there.

We served it with broccoli that was “stir fried” in the pan that had browned the chicken and made the sauce, cantaloupe, blackberries, and strawberries. Eating the rainbow again. My one regret is that I didn’t serve it with pasta. It totally needed pasta.

And, as I was saying, with the exception of the capers (oh, well, more for me), Muffin LOVED it!!! Of course this was a Muffin Approved meal all the way around: two of his favorite fruits and one of his favorite veg. For some reason, Muffin wasn’t that fond of the blackberries. I loved them!

Anyway, here’s what I did:

Quick and Easy Chicken Piccata

(Followed almost exactly from Debbiedoo’s–see the hyperlink above)

3 large chicken breasts (the thin end cut off as one piece then the thicker in divided into two pieces–halved horizontally–you will have 9 smallish pieces)

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup (ish) all-purpose flour

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (You are going to buy a fresh lemon anyway to slice and boil in the sauce, so 1/4 cup of juice isn’t that much of a hardship. P.S. If you have a Muffin, he or she loves doing this part of the work.)

1 fresh lemon, sliced

1/2 jar nonpareil capers (the tiny bits of goodness)

2 tablespoons butter (The recipe calls for four tablespoons, but I was trying to finish off a stick of butter before it went rancid.)

vegetable oil

2 cups of white wine (I used Flip Flop Pinot Grigio. No, I don’t get compensated by their parent company, but I wanted to let you know so you could produce consistent results. And, I chose this one because I’m not fond of pinot grigio, and this one had a screw top–so that it could be easily saved for another cooking use.)

*Debbiedoo’s also uses parsley, but I didn’t use any. If you want to find out how, check out the link above.

I started out by preparing the sauce ingredients (to avoid cross-contamination with the chicken): sliced the lemon, juiced the lemons, measured out the wine, plopped in the butter, and forgot the capers. Then, I prepped the chicken, dividing each into three pieces (see above) and mixing the flour with salt and pepper. While prepping the chicken, I coated the bottom of a large pan in oil and started warming it on medium.

I then cooked the chicken (3-4 minutes each side) in two batches, evacuating the chicken to a 13×9 glass pan as it finished. Once I started cooking the chicken, I preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Once the chicken was browned, I poured in the sauce ingredients, starting with the wine, which deglazed the pan close to immediately. I stirred them together and brought them to a “bubble,” then reduced the heat and let the sauce simmer for 10 minutes.

I poured the sauce over the chicken and plopped the 13×9 in the oven. Sprinkle capers over the top (if you forgot to add them to the sauce as I did). Bake 25-35 minutes. I baked mine 25 minutes and it was perfection, very tender and flavorful.